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Smoking and Heart Attacks

Smoking is a major risk factor for heart attacks, even among younger adults. Researchers writing in the journal Tobacco Control in 2004 said smoking boosts the risk for heart attack by about five times in adults younger than age 40. Smoking was a factor in 81 percent of men in that age group who had a heart attack, and in 77 percent of women in that age group, according to the study.